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Lot Essay
La promenade, executed circa 1880-82, dates from one of the most pivotal periods of Renoir's life. It was during this period that he met his future wife, Aline Chargot, and also that Paul Durand-Ruel began buying his works. The increasing acceptance and patronage of Renoir's art in fashionable circles brought him increasing financial security and stability while also giving him the kudos to truly explore the limits of his media. He traveled in North Africa and in Italy, increasing his range of influences, experimenting more and more with landscape painting as well as formulating new theories about light and subject matter, largely influenced by the Renaissance artists to whom he was exposed in Italy.
While his range of experiences increased, Renoir abandoned his earlier subject matters, not least his depictions of 'everyday' life - balls, picnics and streets. La promenade therefore appears to be a valedictory treatment of the flâneur, the quintessentially Parisian street-wanderer. The flâneur, essentially a predatory man wandering the streets in search of women, was both celebrated and embodied by Charles Baudelaire, whose works often involved his reminiscences while traipsing through labyrinthine Paris. However, in his works the women he saw were often treated as miniature epiphanies. In La promenade, the scene appears more prosaic, as the man seems to take a second glance at a passing lady. The almost standard association between the flâneur and women of tainted repute forces the viewer to wonder whether the woman depicted is either a coquette or even a prostitute. Renoir evidently worked hard on capturing the woman's gaze, as shown by the repetition of her features, perhaps a practice run, in the top right-hand corner. The image of the two passing each other has a fresh, contemporary feel, its composition adding to this with its daring, almost photographic angle. This is Renoir's urban Impressionism, capturing a fleeting moment of city life on paper. In La promenade, Renoir not only treats a daring but fashionable scene, he also explores the feathery hatching that had become his trademark in his oil paintings of the period. His light touch manages to define the figures, infusing them both with lightness and volume. The style nonetheless conveys a sense of spontaneity, of Renoir capturing this scene from life.
La promenade belonged to Ambroise Vollard, one of the great Impressionist dealers. Renoir and Vollard did not meet until 1895, but they developed a relationship that went much further than mere artist and patron - indeed, Vollard's La vie et l'oeuvre de Pierre-Auguste Renoir, published shortly after the artist's death, remains one of the most authoritative publications on his friend.
While his range of experiences increased, Renoir abandoned his earlier subject matters, not least his depictions of 'everyday' life - balls, picnics and streets. La promenade therefore appears to be a valedictory treatment of the flâneur, the quintessentially Parisian street-wanderer. The flâneur, essentially a predatory man wandering the streets in search of women, was both celebrated and embodied by Charles Baudelaire, whose works often involved his reminiscences while traipsing through labyrinthine Paris. However, in his works the women he saw were often treated as miniature epiphanies. In La promenade, the scene appears more prosaic, as the man seems to take a second glance at a passing lady. The almost standard association between the flâneur and women of tainted repute forces the viewer to wonder whether the woman depicted is either a coquette or even a prostitute. Renoir evidently worked hard on capturing the woman's gaze, as shown by the repetition of her features, perhaps a practice run, in the top right-hand corner. The image of the two passing each other has a fresh, contemporary feel, its composition adding to this with its daring, almost photographic angle. This is Renoir's urban Impressionism, capturing a fleeting moment of city life on paper. In La promenade, Renoir not only treats a daring but fashionable scene, he also explores the feathery hatching that had become his trademark in his oil paintings of the period. His light touch manages to define the figures, infusing them both with lightness and volume. The style nonetheless conveys a sense of spontaneity, of Renoir capturing this scene from life.
La promenade belonged to Ambroise Vollard, one of the great Impressionist dealers. Renoir and Vollard did not meet until 1895, but they developed a relationship that went much further than mere artist and patron - indeed, Vollard's La vie et l'oeuvre de Pierre-Auguste Renoir, published shortly after the artist's death, remains one of the most authoritative publications on his friend.